Covetous
by edwardsisobel
Summary: For fifty years, Jasper had been torn between his secret love for Edward, his mate and his duty to Alice, his wife, for saving his soul. Now, by a twist of fate, Jasper is free to be with Edward and learns just how covetous his mate can be.FFtF outtake.


**cov·et·ous**

**by edwardsisobel**

An epilogue or 'what happened next' for my one-shot Covet

**Warning**: This is a vampire slash fic with a pairing of Edward and Jasper.

**Summary**: For fifty years, Jasper had been torn between his secret love for Edward, his mate and his duty to Alice, his wife, for saving his soul. Now, by a twist of fate, Jasper is free to be with Edward and learns just how covetous his mate can be.

Author's Note: This epilogue is dedicated to all the readers who wondered what happened next. All my love and thanks go to my beta, Bean827 and pre-readers, pyejammies and vbfb19.

"Desire of having is the sin of **covetousness**." William Shakespeare

We peeled out of the school parking lot in the Volvo; Edward's middle finger still raised and stuck out of the window flipping the Forks High students the bird. His shout of "Fuckers" still echoing down the street.

My brain was still reeling, struggling to catch up with all that had happened this morning and my body was still standing at attention after Edward's forceful kiss. With his body intimately pressed against the length of mine and my back pushed against the side of the Volvo, he had laid on me an open-mouthed, passionate kiss in front of the entire student body. I had to hand it to him for making a spectacular exit from Forks. I don't think this town will forget the Cullens in a hurry.

Now that we were a few miles down the road, I could practically feel him vibrating with the happiness he was exuding in waves. While there had been many moments over the years where we had shared a laugh or moments of humor, nothing could compare to the sheer joy he was feeling now, his happiness washing over me and permeating the car with its scent of victory.

My mind was going around in circles, still not completely comprehending all that had happened in the last few hours. This morning I had prepared for school with Alice, my wife of fifty years, in our bedroom. As I had every day for almost as long, I thought about Edward, my secret love, my mate, in his room down the hall. I had felt that something strange was in the air for the last few days, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that before ten am, I would be on my way to a new life with Edward in Europe and all because Alice had found her true mate, a human named Bella Swan.

My heart had not yet caught up and I was astounded that Edward was taking everything so well. Not least because Alice had hidden her true self from all of us for half a century, including the not insignificant fact that she put Edward's soul in harms way to get what she wanted. Anything could have gone wrong today and it would have been my love who would have paid most bitterly for it. His soul would have never recovered if things had not gone as planned and he had drained Alice's soul mate.

Edward removed his right hand from the steering wheel and reached into my lap to twine his fingers with mine, squeezing them reassuringly. After having to take a back seat for so long, suddenly he was not hesitant any more in touching me, showing me with every action how much I mean to him.

"Alice let me into her mind this morning," he told me sombrely. "She showed me everything she's been having visions of since she met the family; and please, believe me when I tell you that she didn't want to deceive you, Jasper. It was truly the only way for us to be together as well as for her and Bella to be together. She showed me some of the outcomes if she had done things differently and it wasn't pretty. I can barely stand to think what I would have done to that harmless little child if we'd come to Forks any earlier than we did." Edward shuddered as he relived Alice's vision.

"I do believe you, Edward. It's just been so much to take in. After all these years of waiting and hoping, suddenly everything has changed for us overnight and I can't help but feel that this is all a dream that I will wake up from. I feel a little afraid of happiness being snatched away right in front of me again. I'm still in shock and can't seem to shake this feeling that something will go wrong."

Edward's mood shifted suddenly from almost euphoric to downright melancholy at my words. I felt terrible, bursting his bubble of happiness and wished I'd kept my thoughts to myself.

Edward snorted at that! Yeah, fat lot of good that would have done when I'm in love with a mind-reader!

"And he's desperately in love with you, too." Edward spoke fervently, his eyes glittering with something; an intensity and openness that I'd yet to see in them before. Normally, his gaze, although loving when we were alone, looked tortured and resigned to a love unfulfilled.

_I am such a dick!_ We've only waited an excruciatingly long fifty odd years to be together in truth and I fuck everything up within the first few minutes. We should be rejoicing at our good fortune, this chance to start a new life together and explore the world as the mated couple we should have been from the start.

Edward was shaking his head at my thoughts, but I needed to say this out loud. I needed to fix what my errant worries had caused. No more shall I bring those dark shadows to Edward's eyes or the deepest depths of misery to his heart. I shifted in my seat, bringing me closer to Edward and my free hand reached to gently cup his jaw, my lips placed feather light kisses along its chiselled length.

"Fuck, Edward! I'm so sorry. I'm such a fool. Of course I'm happy to be with you, ecstatically happy and I can't wait to start our lives together. I've had to hide my love for you far too long and I can think of nothing better than spending the rest of eternity with you."

Thankfully, I could feel the uncertainty receding from Edward's emotions at my words and thoughts. At that moment, I knew what I wanted…no, what I needed to make me believe this was real and not a wonderful dream I would awaken from.

"Edward, I'd really like to stop if we can for a little while. Things have moved too fast this morning and I am a little bit of a mess actually. I need to feel your arms around me, to ground me…to center me. Is that okay?"

Edward nodded thoughtfully and then jerked the steering wheel sharply to the left, steering the Volvo into a secluded turnoff deep within the forest alongside the highway heading into Seattle. As Edward switched off the ignition, he turned to me and took my face into his hands, smiling as he gently took my lips in a soft slow kiss.

With the first brush of his lips against mine, his long fingers stroking my jaw, everything else simply fell away; it was just the two of us in this moment and would be every moment thereafter.

"Jasper, I've waited so long for this. I've dreamed of what it would be like to be with you fully and openly; to be able to proclaim you as my mate and lover to the entire world. It's all so surreal! This is the best day of my life next to the day you walked into it. I love you with all my heart and soul and to be able to kiss you and touch you and make love to you when you're mine and mine alone is everything to me."

"Everything," he whispered into my ear reverently.

I couldn't help it, I didn't care how awkward or cramped it would be - I needed to be closer. I leaned over and depressed the lever to move Edward's seat back and down so he was almost horizontal before removing the seatbelt restraining him. He watched my movements with darkening eyes and a slight smile hovering around his lips. As I inelegantly shuffled my legs over the centre console and finally knelt over him, his eyes by then were pitch black and his need for me was etched into his face.

I lifted my left hand and it shook slightly as my thumb gently traced Edward's bottom lip. He flicked his tongue out and licked and then gently bit down on the digit, his eyes never leaving mine. I shivered in response to the feelings of desire I could sense pouring over me in the small confines of the car. I reached out and took his face into my hands, my thumbs gently stroking the hard jaw straining up towards me.

"Please, Jasper! Kiss me." I waited no longer, Edward's plea spurring me on to take his mouth in a heated kiss, my fingers sifting through the tangled mess of his soft bronze hair as his hands clutched my back and the juncture of my neck anchoring me to him. Our tongues tangled, sliding sinuously together, then licked and tangled once more.

The erection that had roared to life in the parking lot when Edward had proclaimed me his in front of the entire student body, was back and rubbing deliciously against Edward's equally prominent member as a sudden rainstorm lashed the car, enveloping us in our own little world.

I wanted him with a passion that had, by necessity, been muted and put aside for many a long year. I couldn't wait to love him with all my heart and suddenly, I didn't care where we were. I needed to be joined with him in the most intimate way possible, to celebrate and embrace our new life together.

Edward moaned into my mouth on hearing my thoughts, his hips flexing up and grinding himself against me so hard and fast that I was fearful that the denim separating us would disintegrate from the friction.

"Jasper, I need you now. I need to be buried deep inside you now." Edward panted into my mouth. I nodded and tried to remove our pants as we shuffled awkwardly in the cramped seat of the Volvo.

"No…outside." he demanded.

I shoved the door open and slid out, oblivious to the pouring rain, pulling Edward with me and slamming him back against the door in one smooth move before claiming his mouth in a searing kiss. His soft hair was clutched in my hands as I held him tightly to me and licked the rain from his lips, bit his chin and then ran my nose along his jaw and down his throat, until I gently bit down on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. His answering moans and the urgent pressure of his cock against mine indicated the pleasure he was feeling from my ministrations.

Edward was simply stunning, his head thrown back to give me better access to his throat. His bronze hair darkened from the moisture coating it and the pearlescent skin of his chest just visible above his grey long-sleeved t-shirt that was now clinging wetly to his toned chest. I ran my hands down his chest to the bottom of the shirt and tugged it up and over his head, although I was somewhat hindered by his reluctance to let go of my hips to release it. "Rip it off." He had grunted but I liked this shirt on him and I didn't want to give up admiring him as the soft cotton clung to his body and stretched tight with every sinuous move he made.

The rain sluiced down his torso as if we were in an enormous shower and I watched as drop after drop of rain fell on each of his hard, little nipples, balancing precariously for a second before rolling off and down the hard planes of his stomach and then slip under the edge of his jeans lying low on his hips. So low, that I was sure that Edward was going commando today, as there was no hint of a band peeping over the edge of his jeans.

My lips, as if by remote control, latched onto first his right nipple and then his left and lapped at the water dripping from them like I was dying of thirst. My hands traced the muscles of Edward's back, flexing and arching as I sucked and licked and bit gently on each. Apart from the sounds he was making, the fact that Edward was completely unaware of the enormous dent that now adorned the door of the Volvo, as well as the crushed door frame from where his fingers were twisting and squeezing with each bite, was proof enough of his inattention to anything but my mouth on his skin.

Edward's head lifted and he glanced sideways to where his right hand gripped the twisted doorframe of his beloved car. _Well, he WAS oblivious until I thought about it._ Edward's lips twisted into his trademark smirk. "Not oblivious, Jasper! I just really couldn't give a shit about the Volvo right now. Everything you're doing is far more important to me than a hunk of scrap metal. Now, please continue…I believe you were thinking of tracing the path of those raindrops, weren't you?"

_Damn mind-reading vampire!_

I bit down a little harder on his nipple for that smartass comment but that backfired when Edward reciprocated by ripping my shirt right off my torso and pinching mine. Now my head jerked back with the sensation of his fingers tightly pressing my nipples between his thumbs and forefingers and twisting. It was painfully pleasurable and the spark travelled directly from my nipples to my now pulsing dick, painfully restrained in the tight jeans I had donned earlier in the day.

_Rip! Rip!_

A blast of satisfaction hit me from Edward as I sprang free, brushing against his own bouncing erection that he had simultaneously released, the remains of our jeans rags on the ground. "Edward," I grunted out as he slipped one hand between us and took both cocks in hand, gripping firmly and stroking his hand up and down our lengths. My breathing became ragged with the dual sensations of his hand and the silky hardness of his cock teasing me; so intense that I knew it would not take much to send me over the edge. It had been too long since anything other than my own hand had given me pleasure.

"Yes," Edward whispered in my ear. "Let go, love."

He redoubled his efforts and as I clung to his shoulders to stay upright, I never lifted my eyes from his pumping hand and the sight of our cocks being pleasured side by side, as if representing our new relationship.

"Yes, Jasper. Together forever. Just you and me loving and making love every day."

"Aghhhh" I groaned into his chest, my head resting on his shoulder and watched as I came all over his still pumping hand and our cocks and his stomach. Seconds later he joined me and I watched in fascination as his cum shot up between us, seeming to hang in the air for a split second before mingling with the rain as it fell in steady streams between our bodies.

Totally spent, I lay against his lean form, my arms wrapped loosely around his neck while his looped around my back holding me lovingly close. I moved closer still and realized that I had padding between me and the rocky ground. That's when it came to me that Edward and I were standing buck-naked, wrapped around each other just off the highway and we were still wearing our shoes and socks. What a sight that would have been for any passing motorist!

Edward chuckled. "It's lucky a few cars didn't pull off the highway, love, with the amount of lust we were throwing around. I am pretty sure, if nothing else, that there are a few happy drivers heading towards Forks right now.

"Come on; let's go for a hunt before we have to board the flight. We can clean up afterwards in a stream I remember not far from here." As Edward moved away to open the trunk to get some clothes, I reached out my arm to stop him.

"I think I'd like to hunt naked." I stated. Edward just raised his eyebrows and raked his eyes down my body, already hardening again at the thought of Edward being taken over by his true nature, tracking his prey and drinking his fill.

Edward had vaulted over the Volvo before I had even realized he had discarded his shoes and socks on the ground and was racing deeper into the darkening forest. I toed off mine and tore at my socks before I followed at a frantic pace. Edward was faster than me but my tracking abilities were the best in the family and I was able to easily follow his trail by the smell of his arousal drifting behind him.

It was freeing to be like this, away from the rest of the family where, for so long, we had to hide our feelings and natural inclinations to be with each other. Many times I had sought Edward out in my need to be close to him, but at the same time, it had been agonizing to do so and act as if we were nothing more than brothers. The guilt I endured every time I felt Edward's stoic acceptance of our situation was crippling. I had Alice, and although she was not my soul mate, I did love her in my way for all she had done for me and my soul before and after I met Edward.

Edward had suffered on his own, waiting half a century for me to be free of my commitments to Alice so that we could start our lives together. We had hunted many times over the years alone together but usually with Alice or some combination of the rest of the family. The few times we were completely alone, we really did hunt as the thought of being discovered in any other longed for situation was too catastrophic to comprehend. The rare times we had succumbed had been so hurried and nerve wracking that they became little more than a release instead of lovemaking.

Today would be different; I could feel the oppressive shackles from our last fifty odd years lifting from my shoulders as I darted from tree to tree, clearing boulders and creek beds with ease. I knew I was gaining on Edward from the strength of the feelings he was projecting, steely determination and hunger for blood. I slowed as I rounded a boulder and saw he was across the clearing crouched low and watching the path of a mountain lion as it picked its way through the undergrowth.

_Beautiful_!

Even from where I was standing I could see Edward roll his eyes at my compliment. _It's true you know,_ I told him with my mind and watched as he slowly crept forward and then lunged at the animal in his sights. As he caught the lion in his arms and rolled him to the ground, I caught sight of the lions prey: a large buck with enormous antlers. I shot to the side and grabbed it in my arms, latching on to the carotid artery in its neck before I had even hit the ground. I had landed a few feet from Edward and I watched as he sank his teeth into the lion's neck and started sucking the life blood out of the animal.

Edward rarely returned from a hunt with a trace of blood on his neatly pressed clothes; so to see gushes of the lion's blood spill directly from the lion onto his chest and run down his body, I knew was deliberate on his part to entice me. It was working. His eyes darkened as he watched me restrain the large beast in my strong arms and I copied him, pulling back for just a moment so the warm viscous liquid spurted out of the beast's artery straight onto my straining erection and dripped down onto my tightening ball sac.

_I need you _

Casting aside the drained carcass, Edward stalked toward me in the same manner as he had hunted the lion. His animalistic nature to the forefront, as his eyes dragged down my body and zeroed in on the source of blood. I shivered at the intensity of his gaze. Before I had finished draining my prey, he ripped it out of my arms and, in a single movement, had scooped me up and pinned me to the tree behind. I throbbed in response to this forceful side of Edward that I rarely got to see, but had no time to analize as his mouth clamped onto mine and he sucked whatever blood still remained from my last pull from the deer's jugular.

No sooner had he drawn the remnants from my lips, he was descending to his knees and taking my cock into his mouth, sucking the blood I had directed onto it. My knees buckled as Edward nipped, licked, sucked and lapped at the blood covering my turgid flesh. When he finished cleaning off every last drop, thankfully before my thin control slipped, he stood and wrapped my legs around his waist.

"I need you now, Jasper. I need to be buried so deep and fuck you so hard that all trace of anyone before me is obliterated. You're mine and no one will ever take what's mine again," he growled.

_Fuck me!_

"I am going to fuck you so good, baby. You won't even remember your own name!" He whispered that time in my ear as he pressed my back into the solid oak and ground himself against me.

"Are you ready for me, Jasper?"

I nodded, feeling oddly subservient for possibly the first time in our relationship and revelling in it as Edward's need to make me his overrode my born and bred leadership tendencies. There was no sign of the Major as Edward lifted me as if I weighed nothing, held my ass cheeks wide open as he slid his fingers inside for just a moment stretching me and then, with very little ado, lowered me onto him. I was wrong. He hadn't quite cleaned all the blood from my body. He'd left whatever had run down to my balls and around to my puckered hole which lubricated his way as he slid deep within my body.

A strangled, guttural moan echoed around the clearing and I realized it was my own as Edward started to slowly pump in and out of my body, grinding into me each time his body drew flush with mine. My eyes were glued to his dark gaze, his sharp jaw set with determination and possession and with each thrust he uttered a single word, over and over again, strong and loud, ringing out into the air around us.

"Mine."

_**desire · want · crave · yearn · hunger**_

**5 hours later…**

Alice had definitely surpassed herself in planning this getaway for us in more ways than one. Edward told me that she had purchased an apartment in Paris for us twelve months ago when she had a vision of the plan, which she had pulled off today, succeeding. We were currently relaxing in first class seats and I was fiddling with the envelope containing a letter from Alice we had found in my suitcase as we were dressing for the flight after our hunt.

As much as I understood Alice's motivations for staying quiet about her abilities and her knowledge of our futures, it still upset me that she had known how Edward and I had felt about each other and that she and I had no future together. I found it difficult to believe that if we had known the whole truth, we couldn't have come up with a suitable plan for Edward's blood lust over his singer. I wasn't yet sure I could forgive her for the years of mental anguish that Edward had suffered while, taunting him with our relationship.

Edward continued to say that all that mattered was now and that he couldn't fault Alice for holding onto me as long as she could. He would never let me go now that I was all his to love. I begged to differ and thought that Alice was very wise at least in planning for us to be in Europe for a minimum of ten years. I might have calmed down by then and could live in harmony with her and Bella.

I was slightly sad too that she had made the decision to send us away so that Bella would have the chance to get to know the family and work through her own issues in becoming a vampire. I knew that I would miss the family but it would have been somewhat awkward to settle into the new relationship between Edward and myself with the whole family in close proximity. I am surprised that no one had ever realized what had happened between us because I doubt that Edward, nor I, was very successful in masking the longing we had for each other.

We'd spoken to each of the family members separately, besides Alice, as we had waited at Sea-Tac for our flight and to say that the family was dumbstruck about all that had happened today was an understatement.

Emmett and Rosalie were both shocked and upset, never once apparently having any inkling that there was anything between Edward and me. Rosalie was hurt, I know, because she spent the entire conversation claiming that it would be a cold day in hell before she'd visit us and Emmett spent the entire time analizing every moment where we had physical contact and informing us that we both had the hots for his ass. Of course, we told him he was dreaming, but I noticed Edward avoiding my eyes and a slightly guilty feeling pass from him. _Ah, so he had been checking out Emmett's ass._ I kept my thoughts carefully neutral but obviously not enough as Edward's fist shot out and punched my arm. "_No, you're mine!"_

Esme was rather naïve for a century-old vampire and was struggling with the idea that boys might actually love boys. I was not particularly sympathetic to Alice's plight for when she had to explain to Esme about her feelings for Bella.

Carlisle was surprised at the turn of events but remained unflappable as always. In his usual manner, he proceeded to advise us both on protection and safe sex practices for homosexual men. We just listened and smiled and decided not to remind him that vampires never get sick and never suffer from human diseases. I did start to wonder, however, when he proceeded to explain about the joy of discovering the prostate gland and how, in his own words, it felt very enjoyable when rubbed with a finger or, in our case, the penis if angled correctly. _Thank you, Carlisle._

The prostate gland! Edward dominating me and taking me as his so forcefully had surprised me today. Just thinking about how he had pounded into me, careless of the ancient oak I was pressed into and for once not mindful of any marks he bestowed on my skin, made my body clench in remembered bliss. For a brief while after our lovemaking, I had sported a lovely reddish hickey mark on my neck where Edward had sucked and bitten as he had thrust forcefully into me and a brand new scar over my no-longer beating heart where he had clamped down as he poured into me as we were coming.

I rubbed the new scar through my t-shirt as I tightened my fingers around Edward's hand. He squeezed back and ever so quietly said that if I didn't stop analysing every thrust and brush of his cock against my prostate, I would be joining the mile high club very soon.

I couldn't say I didn't briefly consider it, and Edward's answering moan at my thoughts made it very difficult to turn my mind away from its lust induced wanderings. It was probably something I would want to do, but strangely, after our fierce coupling in the forest, I wanted the next time I made love to my man to be in our new apartment in Paris. I wanted to take my time and explore everything that Edward liked and things that I….

"That line of thought is not helping to control my cock's response to your every thought, love." Edward reminded me.

"I'll try to think of something completely non-sexual, I promise." I replied, fully aware that on occasions our gifts were difficult to live with.

For the next few hours, I made a conscious effort to not slip up and think about sex and, for the most part, I was successful, but by the time we had landed and collected our luggage, I, for one, was already painfully hard just thinking about making love to Edward in our new home. Oh, how good that sounded. Our home. Not the family's communal home, but a place that was our own and time that was our own with no need to hide any more.

Alice had arranged for a limousine to collect us at the airport to take us to our apartment located on the banks of the Seine and overlooking Notre Dame. Edward had regaled me with tales of his visit here back in the sixties with Carlisle and Esme and had been pointing out different landmarks and places he wanted to take me too on the way. Back then, Emmett and Rose had taken some time to be on their own and I had felt too out of control with my bloodlust to confine myself to a flight of such long duration.

The change I could see in Edward in just twenty four hours was remarkable. Although he often put a happy face on when surrounded by the family, I could always see the pain in his eyes screaming to get out. That pain was gone now, replaced with such joy and happiness that Edward was truly uplifting to be around.

"That's because I am happy, Jasper. You make me happy. I don't need to hide my feelings any more and there are absolutely no obstacles in our way. It's our time now, love, and I fully intend to make the most of it."

After my chequered past and my marriage to Alice being such a sham, I wasn't sure how I had got so lucky with Edward. He completed me and understood me in a way that, in my long life, I had never found before.

Edward chuckled beside me and I looked at him in confusion.

"You had me at Hello!" he whispered into my ear and I smiled and squeezed his hand, chuckling at his reference to _Jerry McGuire,_ the movie which had been shown on cable not too long ago.

"You did, you know, have me at Hello," he said again. "I remember so clearly the day you came into my life. I was hunting with Carlisle and Emmett and was miles in front when I sensed that I needed to get back to them. As I came running towards them, I saw Alice first and then I saw you and I could swear I felt my heart come back to life and pound in my chest. It was like a ray of sunshine had illuminated you and then veered straight into my soul. I just knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had finally found what I didn't know I had been searching for."

In a gesture of pure romance, he lifted our entwined hands and brought it to his lips for a sweet kiss and a heartfelt "I love you, Jasper Whitlock."

"As I love you, Edward Mason." Taking it a step further, I kissed his lips so gently, so reverently that my hands shook with the emotion of the moment. If I still had tears, I would have cried from the sheer overwhelming love I felt for my mate, my lover and my best friend.

Right at that moment, the limousine slid to a stop in front of an elegant apartment building and the driver announced through the intercom that we were home.

_**desire · want · crave · yearn · hunger**_

**5 years later…**

A few years ago, on one of our many rambling walks through this beautiful city, we had come across this spot, which we had claimed as our own. I am there now waiting for Edward to finish an evening lecture at the Sorbonne, this degree in business management for a change. He'd thought it was about time that he'd learned to manage his stock portfolio and various business interests on his own.

I had just come from Les Invalides where I had recently acquired a job as junior curator for their vast military collection including Napoleon's greatcoat and tricorn hat. It took a while for me to learn the language but Edward had devised an evil plan in which to ensure my success. For each sentence I pronounced perfectly, he would kiss me. And the rewards for whole pages and then chapters were great incentives to do well.

I'd fallen in love with Paris and its people very quickly and Edward and I had decided we would stay for longer than the ten years Alice deemed it safe for us to stay away. I loved the family, I really did, but there had been little privacy over the years and I was quite enjoying sharing the decision making with Edward and him alone. Tonight, we were viewing a number of new apartments as we were conscious that people would start to notice that we had not aged since we had moved in. Edward particularly, as he looked so young to start with.

The apartments we were looking at tonight were on the right bank this time closer to the Arc de Triomphe, the completely opposite side of the city from where we were living now. Edward was sitting for final exams for his business degree today. He had already enrolled using the name Edward Mason at the Conservatoire de Paris to start in the new year. He wanted me to enrol as well to study the cello but I was more than happy working at the museum and just playing for myself and Edward when the mood struck.

The family worried that living in such a densely populated city would cause problems for my control but it proved to be the opposite. Being constantly surrounded by hordes of people actually dulled the smell of blood after a while because I became so used to it. Someone even cut themselves on something quite close by recently and I was able to continue functioning as long as I held my breath for a while until the coppering tang dispersed.

I'd finally made my peace with Alice last year. It had taken me a while to get over her duplicity with me. Although she was adamant that she had done what she thought was best; we had finally agreed to disagree and move on. I was somewhat mollified by the fact that, to date, Bella had not completely accepted her role as Alice's mate and was fighting her every inch of the way. Bella had accepted her new life as a vampire much easier than anyone imagined she would. She was mainly having difficulty accepting that her mate was a woman. Apparently, in her human life, she had had a huge crush on the son of one of her father's friends and remained convinced that Alice was somehow causing this pull she was feeling. I guess I should feel bad that Alice's love life wasn't doing so well, but I just can't rustle up that kind of attitude just yet. Maybe next year.

I leaned back on the park bench and closed my eyes, opening up my other senses to the still night around me. With vampire hearing, this quiet spot was not as silent as it would be for a human, but it was still an oasis amongst the hustle and bustle of the city. The crickets in the shrubs surrounding me created white noise in the background to the hooting of an owl in a tree nearby. The cars flew by on the nearby expressway and the gentle chug of a restaurant boat broke through as it passed under the bridge on its way past the Eiffel Tower across the river and onto the Isle de la Cite and Notre Dame.

I heard the distinct crunch of the little white gravel stones that made up the pathway leading to this little spot. I smiled knowing I would soon see my mate, my lover. His footfalls were familiar to me now after our many visits to this little spot of our very own, but more than that, whoever was walking my way had such joy in his heart and happiness in his soul it could be no other than Edward.

I won't say things are perfect in our little world, we have the occasional spat about whose turn it is to clean the bathroom and Edward can occasionally be a little anal about the way I return CDs and DVDs to their cabinet if they are not in their correct place in the carefully arranged and utterly bizarre filing system he has.

"Did I hear you say anal, Mr Whitlock?' My mate inquired as he walked into view through the gently swaying greenery of the willow trees lining the pathway. He reached out a hand to draw me to my feet and into his embrace, an action I would never tire of.

_God, he's gorgeous_, I thought to myself as I took a step back and drank in his appearance. He looked downright delicious in a suit and tie which I can't wait to take off slowly and kiss every inch of him as its revealed to me.

"Yes, please." My lover whispered to me as he took a step forward and leaned his forehead against mine. His fingers lightly gripped my hips and I could feel his thumbs stroking my hipbone through my own suit pants, the required attire for my position at the museum. "As long as I can do the same for you tonight, love?" I nodded my agreement and then sighed with longing as he added a further addendum to our plans.

"And then I'm going to fuck you so hard in our marble tiled shower that you won't even remember your name."

I grabbed his hand and declared that we would go apartment hunting another day as the craving I had for my love to do just that had escalated sharply on hearing his words, but he pulled me back to him and laughed at my impatience.

"We have all the time in the world, love…for apartment hunting and for lovemaking…an eternity in fact. I have something I need to ask you and I want to do it here and now."

_Oh no, he wants me to invite the family here for another visit and they will pester me till I kiss and make up with Alice…_My thoughts were hijacked by a growl deep from his chest. "No, there will be no kissing Alice or anyone else but me. You are mine!"

Edward had certainly kept this forceful, dominating side of his personality well hidden before our move to Paris. If anything, when I had allowed myself to dream about our lives together, I had always seen Edward as the quiet one, readily agreeing to my plans and definitely taking on the "bottom" role in our lovemaking more often than not.

Edward snorted at that thought. He had me completely and utterly enthralled and he knew I would happily accede to him whenever and wherever he wanted. No one had ever loved me like Edward loved me and I adored him utterly and completely without an ounce of doubt. I would do anything for him as he would do for me. I looked up at him through my lashes, a hopeful look on my face that he would agree to come home with me now and make good on his promises.

"Soon, my love, soon." He whispered as he took my face in his strong hands and he kissed me softly and sweetly.

And then he dropped to one knee in the gravel, my hands gathered in his, as I gasped at the outpouring of love and tenderness and possessiveness in his soul that was all for me.

"Jasper Whitlock, light of my life, heart of my heart, will you marry me and walk by my side for all eternity?"

That's when I felt the tiniest moment of doubt in my Edward's heart, the smallest sliver of worry that I wouldn't answer in the affirmative. His eyes searched my face as he waited for my answer.

There could only ever be one answer to that question and I answered him with one word, a strong word in this place that was so special to us and the city that had embraced us so fully.

"Yes."

_**desire · want · crave · yearn · hunger**_


End file.
